Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez lined a clean single to right field with two outs in the eighth inning, ending Moscoso's bid to throw the 22nd no-hitter by a rookie in major league history as Oakland averted a sweep with a 7-0 victory Wednesday.

Moscoso was perfect through 5 2/3 innings before issuing a walk to Alcides Escobar, and he didn't allow another Royal to reach base until Perez's solid single between first and second.

Even then, Moscoso had a chance at his first shutout and complete game in the majors, but was denied when third baseman Scott Sizemore made two errors on a Billy Butler grounder with two outs in the ninth. With Moscoso's pitch count at 129 – 20 more than his previous high – manager Bob Melvin came out to get him.

Moscoso broke an A's record previously shared by Catfish Hunter and Dallas Braden by retiring 30 consecutive batters dating back to his last start Friday. The walk to Escobar snapped the streak.

Kansas City brought the AL's fourth-highest batting average (.271) into the game but could not solve Moscoso, a 27-year-old from Venezuela who had not made a major league start before this season.

The few times when the Royals made solid contact, Coco Crisp ranged all over center field to deny them, making nice plays on drives by Butler in the first and Johnny Giovatella in the fourth.

"The last couple of games I've been getting ahead in the count with the first few pitches. That's when you're able to make quality pitches,'' said Moscoso, who pitched a perfect game at Class A in 2007. "I tried to get first-pitch strikes down in the corner. That's the key.''

Moscoso (8-8) was not overpowering, topping out at 92 mph with his fastball and striking out four, but he kept the Royals off-balance by mixing his slider and changeup with an effective cutter. He allowed two hits total, including Alex Gordon's single in the ninth.

Of the 26 outs Moscoso recorded, 19 came on flyouts or line outs.

"He had that kind of rising fastball that you couldn't get on top of,'' Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur said.

Francoeur was involved in one of baseball's rarest plays in the second inning when he fielded Michael Taylor's line shot on a bounce and fired a strong throw to first, beating the hustling Taylor by half a step.

It was only the fifth 9-3 putout in the AL since 1974, the year after the designated hitter was implemented.

As Taylor headed to his position in right field, he had a brief, light-hearted exchange with Francoeur.

"He was a good sport about it. I couldn't stop smiling running in from the outfield,'' said Francoeur, who had nailed San Diego Padres pitcher Mat Latos with a similar play but never a position player. "In a game like this when we didn't do much, it was a fun little play.''

Taylor, who got his first major league hit the previous night, said the play was a result of a perfect storm of conditions: Francoeur playing shallow, having a great arm and catching a hard line drive straight at him on one hop.

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